The top 10 LGBTQ+ books to look out for in 2024

These days, there is more room than ever before for LGBTQ+ stories on bookstore shelves. As we look toward 2024, there’s an exciting new round of queer books on the way to steal our hearts, shock us, and make us swoon. From celebrity memoirs, to historical fiction, to classic rom-coms, the new year promises so many new gems of queer books, it can almost feel overwhelming.

Here, find the top 10 queer books we’ll be picking up in the new year (and a few bonus titles from 2023 to make sure you catch up on):

Fluid by Harris Reed with Josh Young (January 16)

Harris Reed has been making waves for years in the fashion industry, becoming known for his innovative work, often through a gender-fluid lens. Reed’s pieces have been worn by the likes of Harry Styles, Adele, Sam Smith, Iman, and Beyoncé. He’s been the force behind a number of iconic cultural moments, and has helped push conversations about gender expression into the mainstream. His new book, Fluid, brings it all together with stunning photography, behind-the-scenes stories, and the journey that brought his admirable career to where it is.

Here We Go Again by Allison Cochrun (April 2)

If Red, White, & Royal Blue left you hungry for more pitch-perfect queer rom-coms, look no further than Alison Cochrun. Her two most recent novels, The Charm Offensive and Kiss Her Once for Me, are both the kind of book that will have you laughing and swooning late into the night. This 2024 release looks to be no different, following former childhood best friends forced into a cross-country road trip.

A Good Happy Girl by Marissa Higgins (April 2)

If you’re a fan of Melissa Broder or Sally Rooney, and have ever wished their work was gayer…look no further! The new novel from Marissa Higgins follows a young professional woman who finds herself tangled in a relationship with a lesbian couple, an experience that starts to unravel some repressed childhood memories. While the premise sounds less-than-chill, Higgins’s writing also promises a poignant, captivating, observant, and very queer narration following a fraught period of early adulthood.

Queer Power Couples: On Love and Possibility by Hannah Murphy Winter & Billie Winter (May 7)

Brace yourself for this emotionally packed, visual exploration of queer love, showcasing fourteen LGBTQ+ power couples and letting us in on the stories that led to their admirable relationships and careers. The book features interviews by journalist Hannah Murphy Winter, paired with intimate photography by their wife, Billie Winter (another power couple alert). Among the couples featured are Alan Wyffels and Mike Hadreas of Perfume Genius, and Roxane Gay with Debbie Millman. This one is guaranteed to be filled with adorable meet-cutes, the secrets behind tough times, and personal reflections on their hard-won happiness.

The Guncle Abroad by Steven Rowley (May 21)

Steven Rowley’s 2022 hit, The Guncle, charmed readers with its heartwarming story and hilarious cast of characters. The sequel promises more of that, with an overseas twist. The Guncle Abroad reunites our hero, Patrick O’Hara, with his niece and nephew, five years after we last saw them. This time, though, they’re away from cozy Palm Springs and must travel to Italy for a family wedding. A new setting, and a new stage of life, for these adorable characters to undoubtedly, gloriously mess everything up.

Watch our interview with Steven Rowley and his author husband Byron Lane from this past year:

A Great Gay Book: Stories of Growth, Belonging, & Other Queer Possibilities, edited by Ryan Fitzgibbon (May 21)

A collection of queer essays, short fiction, poetry, interviews, profiles, art, and photography, curated from the archives of Hello Mr., a queer magazine founded in 2012 by Ryan Fitzgibbon, who also serves as the editor of this collection. In addition to some of the magazine’s greatest hits, it also promises brand new material from “today’s biggest LGBTQ+ creatives.” This new, celebratory book contains work from heavy-hitters including Jeremy Atherton Lin, Lady Bunny, Alexander Chee, Garth Greenwell, Saeed Jones, Chani Nicholas, Tommy Pico, Ocean Vuong, Bryan Washington, John Waters, Kehinde Wiley, J Wortham, Hanya Yanagihara, and more.

The Future Was Color by Patrick Nathan (June 4)

If Fellow Travelers has you curious for more in-depth historical fiction on the McCarthy era and the lavender scare, look no further than Patrick Nathan’s new novel, set in 1950s Hollywood. Our protagonist, George Curtis, is a Hungarian immigrant working as a screenwriter, and is forced to navigate the McCarthy-era studio system filled with suspected communists and spies – not to mention the lingering trauma in the air of post-war LA.

The Pairing by Casey McQuiston (August 6)

Casey McQuiston’s debut novel Red, White & Royal Blue reached new heights this year with Amazon’s film adaptation. Her two follow-ups, One Last Stop and I Kissed Shara Wheeler were just as romantic, funny, and compulsively readable. Her next book, The Pairing, follows two “gloriously slutty” bisexual exes on a three-week reunion tour through France, Spain, and Italy. According to McQuiston on Instagram, “The Pairing is about discovery and growth, hedonism and decadence, sex and gender, laughing and crying, art and bodies, and — most importantly — food and drink.” If her work to date is any indication of how much fun this book will be, we’re the first in line.

Small Rain by Garth Greenwell (TBA)

If you’ve never had the pleasure of getting lost in Garth Greenwell’s atmospheric, calming, and deeply queer writing, you’ll have a chance when his third novel, Small Rain, releases in the new year. Details are still to be announced, but in the meantime, his first two gorgeous books, What Belongs To You and Cleanness are available. We can’t wait to see what’s in store from one of the most daring and insightful queer writers working today.

The Woman In Me, Vol. 2 by Britney Spears (TBD)

Britney’s 2023 memoir, The Woman in Me, was a pop culture moment that went straight to the top of every bestseller list. Filled with stories of performances, relationships, and her conservatorship, The Woman in Me addressed, well, most of the questions we had for Britney. In the week following its release, Britney wrote in a since-deleted Instagram post: “Humor is the cure to everything !!! Play on !!! Volume 2 will be released next year … get ready !!!” Further details haven’t been announced yet, but when Britney speaks, we listen, and we’ll be ready.

BONUS: Blackouts by Justin Torres (2023)

This one is a 2023 release whose star just keeps climbing, and we have no doubt that will continue into the new year. Justin Torres won the National Book Award with this haunting, complicated novel about lost histories, queer identity, and love. Torres takes the whole medium of creative writing and flips it on its head, leaving us with a masterpiece whose meaning reveals itself slowly and devastatingly.

BONUS #2: Day by Michael Cunningham (2023)

Another 2023 release that, if you missed it, belongs at the top of your to-read stack in 2024. Michael Cunningham, most famous for his Pulitzer Prize-winner The Hours, has returned with a haunting, daring, bold novel exploring love and loss, familial dysfunction, and queerness. Taking place over three specific days, all one year apart, Cunningham has once again expertly crafted a work of fiction that will leave you mind-blown with how he pulls it off, then in tears over how beautifully obvious it actually seems.

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